Tag: Achillea

240%

Published on by Catherine27 Comments

A small island close to where I live attracts many home-grown tourists and those from further afield. The favourite activity for visitors is to hire bikes from one of the cycle hire shops and cycle around the island. This can be achieved in about an hour, though most folk take longer as they stop to admire the scenery and enjoy some ice cream or cake from a local cafe. A few days ago official figures were released for the rainfall during August (keep in mind that we still had a few days of August left) and those figures showed that rainfall for August was 240% higher than average. I can’t argue with that, the rain this month has been relentless.

One of our teenage grandsons was visiting recently and it was a challenge to find enough indoor places of interest to take him to. He thoughtfully said he was happy to be in a cooler climate since his home town in the US was having a very hot and humid summer. He hasn’t been discouraged though, as he plans to come back next year, probably in the hope that it will be a rain and wind-free visit!

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Not an Ugly Duckling

Published on by Catherine32 Comments

Six on Saturday

Three of the six photos are from this week, and the other three were taken just before my teenage grandsons arrived on their first international trip without their parents (actually, their first trip anywhere on their own!). Am I cheating with my before and now photos? Perhaps I need to read the rules for Six on Saturday, but for this week, I hope our host Jim will forgive me! The boys have gone home now, and I’m surveying the sad state of the garden. It’s looking sad because many of the plants are already fading as autumn creeps in and also because too many have failed to perform this year.

The main failures this season have been the dahlias, two so far, have failed to produce any flowers at all, and the remainder have produced far fewer blooms than in previous years. To add to the problem, the snails, slugs and earwigs have been feasting well on them. Is anyone else having dahlia problems this year?

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Six on Saturday 2020 01-08

Published on by Catherine30 Comments
Family Visit

There was no post last week, and sadly I didn’t get the time to look at other ‘sixers’ posts either. My daughter and her family came for a visit, at very short notice. We had been expecting them this weekend, but other events came along and it meant that they had to reschedule their plans for the following few weeks.

We hadn’t seen each other, in the flesh, for seven months, so it was a happy time for all of us, and particularly this week, as yesterday should have been Continue reading “Six on Saturday 2020 01-08” →

Six on Saturday 2020 18-07

Published on by Catherine31 Comments
Milestones

It’s been 4 months since we started social-distancing and this week, due to more easing of restrictions we were able to babysit our two grandchildren who live in a nearby town. They’ll be with us during the day on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a few weeks until schools and possibly nursery, return.

On Tuesday we had fun in a nearby park that has a large play area where they were able to run about freely. The lockdown has been hard on youngsters too, with play parks closed, and children unable to go out and Continue reading “Six on Saturday 2020 18-07” →

Six on Saturday 2020 11-07

Published on by Catherine36 Comments

It has just occurred to me that this is the fifth week that a rose has been the featured image on Six on Saturday. But I couldn’t let the season pass without giving a major mention to (another favourite) Rosa ‘Mortimer Sackler’.

So, what do I love about Mortimer Sackler? It has tall, slender and very elegant reddish stems and lovely little pointed red buds that sit out from flowers that are already in bloom. At a quick glance, the buds give the shrubs a Continue reading “Six on Saturday 2020 11-07” →